Saturday, May 1, 2010

Awaze is a marinade made by combining berbere, oil, and water or an Ethiopian honey wine called Tej. Tej is tough to get a hold of in the states, so using white wine is the best options here. In addition to berbere and wine, additions can include olive oil, garlic, onion, and additional hot dried peppers. Awaze can be used both as a marinade for meat or vegetables in a dish called shakala tibs, as well as a general side condiment.

This salad is inspired by beet salads that are common in north and east Africa. It is an awesome stand-alone dish for any occasion, or as part of a big authentic Ethiopian dinner (see dinner menu in the Mesir Wot page, here).

Preheat oven to 350. Poke holes in the beets and loosely wrap them in tin foil. Drizzle a teaspoon of olive oil, a half teaspoon brown sugar, and a teaspoon of water oil into the opening of the tin foil before closing and place beets in a baking pan.

In a separate baking pan, toss the carrots and 2 TBSP olive oil for the vegetables. Place both carrots (covered with tin foil) and beets in oven and roast until carrots become soft (about 20-30 minutes) and beets don’t put up too much resistance to a fork (about 45-70 minutes).

Remove vegetables and cool. Once cool, cut beets and carrots into bite-sized pieces.

In a small bowl, combine all ingredients for dressing and mix well. When you’re ready to serve, toss the vegetables with the dressing. Finally top with the goat cheese or stir it lightly in with the rest of the salad.

**Update: check out my new authentic mesir wot recipe. While the new recipe is more authentic, this one is is just as good with it's brighter, lighter flavor. Take your pick!**

Mesir Wot is proof that vegan food can kick some serious ass if you know what you're doing. These spiced lentils are a vegetarian staple in Ethiopia. So good! Serve with injera and other radical Ethiopian goodies.

This recipe took me years to get right. I have never found a cookbook or blog that had a suitable injera recipe. And it took me a long time to perfect the ratios and timing in this recipe. But the endeavor worked: this is the best injera you'll have outside of Africa. Guaranteed.

So what the fuck is injera? It is the traditional crepe-like sourdough Ethiopian flatbread that is served with virtually every meal in that country. It is indispensable in all of my Ethiopian recipes, as well as some from other regions. At meal time, a large piece of injeera is placed on a plate and all the food is ladled on top of it. Additional injeera is served on the side with which diners scoop up their food. Eating utensils are never used; just use your hands!

This recipe calls for teff flour. Teff is an outrageously nutritious Ethiopian grain that can be tough to find. Big natural food stores occasionally sell ground teff and you can order it online. Ethiopian or African markets also often have it. Also, when at the store, make sure you’re buying ground teff. Teff is the smallest grain in the world, so ground and unground look identical. Always double check to confirm the label says “ground” or “flour.”

Note that this is essentially a sourdough recipe and requires you to let the teff and water ferment for three days before preparation.

Mix ground teff with 2 cups of the water and let stand in a bowl covered with a dish towel at room temperature until it bubbles and has turned sour. This will take about 3 days. The fermenting mixture should be the consistency of a thin pancake batter. And if a bit of mold forms on top, don't worry. Just scoop it off and proceed.

After the teff has fermented, whisk in the salt, white flour, and remaining 3/4 cup water.

Heat a 12-inch or larger skillet (or use a dry non-stick pan) over medium heat and brush a light layer of oil, or, more ideally, spray with a shot of cooking spray. Then proceed as you would with a normal pancake or crepe: Pour in enough batter to cover the bottom of the hot skillet. About 1/2 cup will make a thin pancake covering the surface of a 12-inch skillet if you spread the batter around immediately by turning and rotating the skillet in the air. The bigger the pan you use, the better. So if you have something larger, use it. Obviously, you’ll scale the amount of batter up or down, depending on skillet size.

Injeera should be thicker than a crêpe, but not as thick as a traditional pancake.

Cook until holes form in the injeera, the top is dry and the edges begin to separate from the pan (about two minutes). Don’t let it turn too brown, and don't flip it over; it is only supposed to be cooked on one side.

Remove from pan by simply sliding or flipping it out onto a cooling rack (using a spatula is not recommended, because the hot injeera often cracks and breaks when you use a spatula) and let cool to room temperature. Once cool, layer wax paper or foil between successive pieces so they don't stick together.

Talking Dirty:

Cooking is like love. It should be entered into with abandon or not at all.

~Harriet van Horne

Nothing would be more tiresome than eating and drinking if God had not made them a pleasure as well as a necessity.

~Voltaire

Wish I had time for just one more bowl of chili.

~The dying words of Kit Carson

The discovery of a new dish does more for the happiness of mankind than the discovery of a star.

~Anthelme Brillat-Savarin

When you have only two pennies left in the world, buy a loaf of bread with one, and a lily with the other.

~Chinese proverb

We should look for someone to eat and drink with before looking for something to eat and drink.

~Epicurus

He who distinguishes the true savor of his food can never be a glutton; he who does not cannot be otherwise.

~Henry David Thoreau

Sharing food with another human being is an intimate act that should not be indulged in lightly.

~M. F. K. Fisher

Did you ever stop to taste a carrot? Not just eat it, but taste it? You can't taste the beauty and energy of the earth in a Twinkie.

~Astrid Alauda

Great food is like great sex. The more you have, the more you want.

~Gael Greene

All sorrows are less with bread.

~Miguel de Cervantes,Don Quixote

A good cook is the peculiar gift of the gods. He must be a perfect creature from the brain to the palate, from the palate to the finger's end.

~Walter Savage Landor

Good food ends with good talk.

~Geoffrey Neighor

A meal, however simple, is a moment of intersection. It is at once the most basic, the most fundamental, of our life's activities, maintaining the life of our bodies; shared with others it can be an occasion of joy and communion, uniting people deeply.

~Elise Boulding

There's nothing like good food, good wine, and a bad girl.

~Anonymous

The joys of the table belong equally to all ages, conditions, countries and times; they mix with all other pleasures, and remain the last to console us for their loss.

~Antheleme Brillet-Savar

Serve this dish with much too much wine for your guests, along with some cooked green vegetables and a huge salad. You will be famous in about half an hour.

~Jeff Smith, The Frugal Gourmet

Olive oil? Asparagus? If your mother wasn't so fancy, we could shop at the gas station like normal people.